HUMANTALE
by killmeandhaveitdownwith
Summary: Long ago, two races ruled over earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the monsters were victorious. They made the humans seal themselves underground with a magic spell. Many years later...
1. Chapter 1: The Monster

Chapter 1: The Monster

_Notes: I have this thing with groups of people who aren't relevant to the original story in anyway outside of being the villains. I guess making up ideas about these types of civilizations is fun, in a way, because you get to rationalize the things they do or show that they aren't always the bad ones? And the way the humans in UT are set up just makes them the perfect candidate for the latter. Anyhow, on with the story. _

Esri was falling. It wasn't anything like she thought it would be. Her stomach contained rocks instead of butterflies, and it felt as if she were floating, which was ironic due to her fast plummet towards the ground. A cry escaped her mouth as the final location of her fall drew near, and-

...

"Eeeeeh!" Esri screamed out, feeling dust coming to contact with her fur. Yanking her head up from the ground, she realized there were flowers sticking up her mouth and a muffled cry escaped. She got to her knees as quick as she could, looking down at the yellow flowers that had broken her fall.

Esri stayed like that for a while, sitting on her knees. It was barely comprehensible what had just happened and a feeling of innate dread fell over her tiny body. But her feelings of self pity were quickly interrupted when a new voice came into the confusion.

"Hey, who are you?"

Esri felt her souls (both born and given) burst out of her chest as she jerked towards the voice. About five feet away from her was a kid with a very messy blouse on. It was stained with mud and red (a weird liquid substance Esri had never seen or heard of before), the two substances mixing in an uncomfortable way.

The kids facial area was a tad bit cleaner but she/he? had a streak of mud and red going through a bump on her face. Was that a nose? Esri thought to herself, cringing at the rude thought. The kids hair was brown, long, and also filled with dirt. On her hair, crossing her forehead, was a messy flower crown made out of the same flowers Esri was currently kneeling in.

"My name is Esri," the young boss monster said hesitantly, her voice going to nervous highs. She was staring at the weird kid in what must have been the rudest way possible.

A look of disappointment flashed through the kids face, but it quickly left as a weird smile was splattered on. It looked happy, but in a very unsettling way.

"Ha. Don't mess with me, Asriel. I know it's you. How did you come back? Do you have her soul? Tell me you do, Azzy!"

"My name isn't Asriel," she frowned, her voice getting a tad bit louder from before, "who are you? Where am I?"

"My names Chara, dumb-face. Why are you being so stupid!"

Esri quickly took note of her name, deciding to try using it in order to get her attention.

"Chara? Is that your name? Well, my names Esri... what type of monster are you? I've never seen one like you before." Esri already knew it was rude the moment it came out of her mouth, but she really couldn't help it.

Chara let out a cold laugh, and Esri felt as if she had done something very wrong.

"I'm not a monster, idiot! I'm a human, or at least I was. I'm going to play along to your game, okay 'Esri'?"

"But-"

"And let me tell you something about the underground. It's filled with humans, and all of them are going to want you dead. Don't even try to survive without my help. They won't show mercy this time around."

The girl took a step forward, her eyes flashing with... something. Esri was still stuck on the word "human", which definitely did not sound like a type of monster.

"Who's there?" A new voice rang through from ahead of her, and Esri popped her head up some more, seeing a huge corridor straight ahead. She was in some sort of chamber, she realized, the only sight of light fifty feet above her. There was somebody approaching, and in a flash second the human was gone.

The man appeared in full view, and Esri couldn't help but stare at him. He was also a human; wearing a brown cloak that covered his torso. His pants were jeans, which struck Esri as almost odd. But she shoved it aside, noticing his brown, shoulder length hair that was covering his face.

"Kid...," he called out, running towards her. Esri could only stare as his very small body towered over her, looking down in intense worry.

"Hi," Esri flatly muttered, already comparing him too Chara. They looked similar in more ways than one.

He bends down, reaching her eye level. Esri stared straight at him, continuing her notice of the similarities between him and the human she has just meant. For a second, the two stared at each other, a look of recognition and hurt flashing through the man's eyes.

"What's your name," He hesitatingly muttered, the look of hurt leaving his face. _Sorta_. Esri found something gentle in him, and immediately decided she was going to answer.

"Esri Dreemurr!"

He let out a breath, but stood up, holding out his hand for her. She took it, not missing a beat.

"My name is Kris, Esri. It is a pleasure to meet you. We're going to my home, and I'll explain more there."

Esri nodded as she felt herself get pulled up by the man. His pull felt weak, which contrasted to... something. They started forward, and Esri could already hear her moms warning voice in her head. _Don't talk to strangers, Esri_. But this man seemed nice, and the kid from earlier did not seem so nice. So he really was her best bet.

Flawless logic.

"Who were you talking too earlier?" Kris asked, looking behind his shoulder for a second.

"Some kid. She was sorta creepy... which is really rude of me to say... I'm sorry!"

"Nobody should be down here," he muttered to himself before turning back to Esri and addressing her.

"If you see somebody you don't know beside for me, don't interact with them. They may want to hurt you."

"How do I know your not going to hurt me?"

"You don't."

"Okay!"

Kris let out a deep breath, clutching Esri's hand tightly. They passed through the corridor, a dark tunnel surrounding them. It made Esri a tad bit scared and a new question popped into her head.

"What are you doing down here and can I go see the police so I can go home?"

There was a pause, and up ahead Esri noticed a flash of light.

"I can't answer that right now."

A somber feeling came over her, and the man let out another sigh.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, but Esri was already distracted by the light ahead.

In the dark of a tunnel, there was one shining crystal producing light all around. It was a low pink and blue, leaving little light diamonds across the ground. After that the tunnel took a turn, and Esri couldn't see what it was turning towards.

"What's that?" Esri asked, and Kris let out a chuckle at her immediate switching of topics.

"It's a lux stone. Also called a liux stone. They provide light in the underground."

Esri let go of his hand, running towards the lux stone.

"Wow, so cool!"

Kris was still taking his time, but called out an agreement.

Esri turned around, coming face to face with what was beyond the lux stone. It was a huge door, decorated with weird symbols she didn't understand. At the center of it all was one big symbol. But she found more interest in the fact that the door was glowing blue.

"Like it?" Kris asked, standing behind her.

"Ya! Is it made from the same stuff the light stone is made of?"

"Lux, and no. The paint is made out of meridiem."

"What's that?"

"A type of flower."

"Do the flowers glow?"

"Yes."

"Cool! Where can I find them?"

"There are lots around my house. Would you like to go there now?"

Esri paused for a moment, realizing he was telling her to move along, and laughed, reaching for the door to push it open. With a creak, it opened, and Kris started to say something but decided against it in the last moment.

Esri took one look beyond the door and immediately shouted, "Wow!"

"Like it?"

"Ya!"

It was a chamber filled with the lux stones and what must have been meridiems. The chamber had went from thin tunnel to a small land area. Esri could see what must have been the man's house, it's yellow bricks contrasting perfectly to the environment, and around it there was some tiny, broken down buildings with the same yellow bricks that looked perfect for climbing. Behind his house the chamber lowered back down, leaving no opening.

"That's your house, right?"

"Yes."

Kris started walking passed Esri, motioning for her to come forward. Esri kept up, taking time to let it all in. It was beautiful and she loved every inch of it! Although it was a bit claustrophobic, but she put that aside. No need to be rude.

She had been rude a lot today.

They reached the entrance, and Kris once again stepping ahead of her to open the door. The inside of the house looked small, with the kitchen and living room being in direct view. His entire house was lit by electric lights, with contrasted hardly to the dim lights outside.

Beyond the kitchen there was a block of house with a short hallway in it, leading to more rooms. Behind the living room there was a desk area, some paintings in the background.

"Do you like it?"

"Ya. It's so cute!"

"Good," Kris muttered, relieved.

Esri looked towards him, expecting him to announce something that they were going to be doing.

"Ah... sorry Esri. Here, let's get you in some new clothes -those seem a dirty-and we can look at what to do next."

"Okay."

Kris walked into the house, going passed the kitchen into the short hallway. Esri started towards the kitchen, deciding to just sit politely on one of the high chairs next to the stone gray island.

_*the kitchen reminds you of a stone fireplace_

Esri paused for a moment, noticing the weird voice in her head. But she quickly shoved it off, agreeing with the stone fireplace portion of the description.

Kris came back in through the fire facing Esri directly, holding a some striped clothing in his hands.

"The bathroom is right here," he told her, pointing towards the door to the right of him, "take as much time as you need. Tell me if anything doesn't fit or if you don't like the clothing."

"Okay, thank you." Esri responded, a happy feeling passing over her. She jumped up from the island, almost tripping over the chair. Kris lunged for her but she ignored him, regaining her balance.

"Be careful."

Esri nodded sheepishly, walking past him and into the bathroom. She didn't know what a bathroom was, but it looked like a washroom, and she didn't want to bother Kris. It looked a lot brighter than the kitchen, but the tile was still stone. There was a huge mirror, a blue tile sink and bathroom, and a weird white bowl of water she saw no use for.

She looked at the mirror, realizing how dirty she really was. Her fur, which was usually a bright white, was now a dull brown. The green and purple shirt her mother had insisted she not buy was torn, as were her black leggings.

Esri looked at the shower for a moment, and decided maybe it would be better to get washed. It would be rude to make Kris's clothes dirt.

"Kris?" She called out, leaning towards the washroom door. She immediately cringed at the action, remembering her mother's angry looks and her lecturing about not yelling across the house.

"Ya?" He yelled back, contrasting deeply to what her parents would have done. Esri frowned, expecting him to also get mad. But Kris almost sounded happy to answer. She quickly shoved it off, he was probably ignoring the yelling so he wasn't rude to her.

"Can I take a shower, please?"

A pause, and then, "yes, of course. Let me get you some shampoo for your fur."

"Thank you!"

A moment later he knocked on the door, handing Esri a bottle of goat shampoo. She laughed at the goat part, remembering the jokes her mom had made at her expense in that dinner party, long ago. Which was ironic, because her dad, her mom's husband, was a goat himself. Really ironic, so much Esri hadn't liked it-

She quickly finished, only stopping her rush when she noticed a spot behind her ear was slowly dusting away. A quick bandage that Kris once again provided for her fixed that. Esri was sad to see her previous clothes go, but she was sure Kris would agree to wash the pants.

But the shirt was done for.

Her new shirt wasn't a shirt, it was a blouse, and it was entirely green with two white stripes across it. It fit very well, which seemed odd because the man clearly was not the same... species? monster? that she was. But she shrugged aside, not wanting to bother asking.

Esri exited the washroom, coming hesitantly into the kitchen. Kris was to the left side of the island, cooking something on the counter. In the corner of her eye, Esri could see the oven preheating. He turned around, noticing her presence, and she noticed that his clock was gone. Instead, he was just in jeans and a tan shirt. Kris gave her a warm smile and motioned for her to come to the island.

There was a green tea set sitting on a little table (tray? she had never seen tea served that way) on the island, the tea inside the open pot glowing blue. Esri immediately ran up, wanting a look at the no doubt meridiem tea. Kris started pouring his batter into muffin tins, but she barely noticed as she continued observing the glowing substance. Her own family loved tea, so it wasn't like she had never seen tea, but this tea looked magical!

"The tea looks magical!" Esri announced, not knowing what to expect as a response but wanting one anyway.

"That's because it is."

"Wait- really?"

"Yes. I'll tell you more when I'm done cleaning this up."

A moment later, Kris sat in the chair across from Esri, a warm look on his face. He started pouring the glowing tea, giving Esri a cup with ice cubes in it.

"So…" Esri started, wanting to learn everything she could about the glowing tea.

"You want to know about the tea?"

"Ya!"

"As I said earlier, it comes from meridiem, which is a magical plant. Humans need meridiems to survive down here because while they are magical, they also have physical aspects to them, so they contain calories."

Esri frowned, not understanding.

"Ah, sorry. I think I'm jumping the facts a bit."

The young monster giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Humans need different types of food then monsters to survive. Here in the underground, one of those foods is the meridiem flowers. But we still do eat the type of food monsters eat, we just do it for other reasons than survival."

That made enough sense to Esri, beside for the fact she didn't know what human meant.

"Uh-"

"Dear underground, what am I talking about? I haven't even explained what a human is," Kris groaned, watching with mild amusement as Ersi scooted forward, awaiting the explanation.

"But that's probably a good thing, if I'm honest. We are not ready for that talk. Let's talk about you."

"Awww..." Ersi sighed, her curiosity already eating inside of her.

"Sorry, Ersi."

"Please?"

"Not now," Kris answered firmly, effectively ending the conversation (but only increasing Ersi's curiosity, unfortunately for her), "now, tell my about yourself. How old are you?"

"8!"

Kris sighed again, and inquired, "tell me about your family."

"My moms name is Mina, and my Dad's name is Asriel. My mom is a fire elemental and my dad is a boss monster, which is fitting, since they both have fire magic! And our last name is Dremurr, which I think I already mentioned..."

"Ah, yes, you did. That would be enough, no need to further explain. Does your family have family names?"

Esri paused for a second, and then nodded excitedly.

"Ya! Well, my dads side does. Esri and Asriel are both family names. My grandma once told me that we used to be a royal family when society had Kings and Queens and stuff, but I don't know if that's true."

Kris chuckled, but it didn't seem like a happy one. Esri, in a childish fashion, ignored it.

"I have one more question for tonight. If this is going to upset you, then don't answer it, okay?"

"Why would it upset me?"

"Why did you come down here?"

"Well... I..."

Esri paused for a second, wondering why she had fallen down.

"I... don't remember," Esris voice lowered significantly as she answered, and Kris frowned at her, nodding.

"It's okay. I didn't think monsters could get concussions but... maybe I was wrong. It's a long way underground, after all," Kris reassured confidently, and Esri nodded despite not knowing what a concussion was.

Her enthusiasm was back in fifteen minutes when the butterscotch muffins came out of the oven, but that lingering emotion of absolute loss would stay with her for a long, long time.


	2. Chapter 2: Choices and Memories

_Sorry for the late update /:_

_I promise that next week I will get two chapters in. I have school break, and my school is gracious enough to make sure nobody had HW._

_Thank you for anyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited. Means a lot that people like my trash writing._

_Also, I am changing the format of this chapter a bit. I don't think it will be this way for all future chapters, since this chapter is more of a set up for the next one than a full fledged part of the story. If that makes any sense. Anyhow, onwards with the story._

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Choices, Nightmares, and Memories**_

_Part 1: Choices_

The next morning, Esri opened her eyes and knew immediately something was wrong. Her bed was stiff, the clothes were hot, and everything was dark. The atmosphere in the room felt wrong as well, leaving her with a very empty feeling inside. It was like waking up in somebody else's house the next day of a sleepover, but much more permanent.

What had even happened? She met two… humans? Which were some type of species? A species that was not a monster? What does that even mean?

Whatever. She wanted to go home. Her new resolve in her mind, Esri jumped out of bed. The floor felt hard and cold, even against her furry feet. It almost hurt how different it all was.

"Esri? Are you up?" came Kris's voice from her door, snapping her out of her thoughts. Finally something she liked.

"Yes!" Esri yelled back, cringing at her own voice. It was so loud, so wrong then how she usually did things. But Kris didn't seem to mind, just like yesterday.

"Can I come in?"

"Ya."

He opened the door, giving her a bright smile. Esri smiled back.

"How did you sleep?"

In truth, she had slept terribly, but didn't want to tell Kris that, so she just muttered a 'good' and left it at that.

Kris clearly didn't believe her but didn't say anything.

"What would you like for breakfast?" he continued on, walking over to turn on some sort of lamp in the back corner of the room. Esri squinted as the room light up.

"Whatever you have is fine," Esri answered happily, her concerns thrown back for a moment at the thought of eating something Kris had made again.

"How does biscotti sound?"

The young girl had no idea what that was but nodded anyway as if it was the best thing she had ever heard of. She didn't want to offend Kris.

"Ah.. good! They will need to bake for a second time, but it won't take long."

He started out of the room and Esri quickly followed. She saw why the pajamas he had given her were so thick as she exited the guest room. The hallway was freezing, and by the time she was sitting on the kitchen island they had eaten muffins on the night before, she was full on shaking.

In the background of her struggle for warmth, Kris had started to preheat the oven and had a tray of stick looking cookies on a tray. Those most have been the biscotti he was making. I guess biscotti just means cookie, she thought to herself, mildly amused by the revelation. She'd ask Kris to confirm it later.

Speaking of Kris, he had come over to sit next to her. He was carrying the tea tray and placed it down. Esri internally groaned. She hated tea, even if was partially magical. But he didn't pour it, instead just placing the tea cup in front of Esri and himself. Esri knew from experience that the tea needed five minutes to seep through the water. Her parents were huge drinkers of tea.

The remind of her parents made all of her worries come tumbling back and she frowned.

Kris noticed and looked up from the tea set, "What's wrong?"

Esri opened her mouth to answer, but something interrupted her. Her heart leaped as the voice from last night started up again.

_*Nothing __*I want to go home_

It had taken over the situation, and everything stopped. It was ingrained in Esri's head, refusing to leave until she chose one. Without even thinking, she made a choice. It wasn't a hard one to make.

_*I want to go home_

Esri didn't say anything. She didn't need too. Something else said it for her, and she didn't even hear it say it. And it was enough to break the spell, returning Esri to her old state of perfect control.

"Esri- I can't."

Kris had lost his aura of content. Esri started to regret her decision

She nodded back at him, sorry she asked. Kris started pouring the half-magic tea, and Esri tried her best to shrug the whole thing off. The voice included.

* * *

Two days had passed since the beginning of her stay with Kris. They were sitting at his office, discussing how she was going to do school without actually going to school. Already, the situation bothered Esri. It wasn't that she didn't like school, because she did, it was just a hallowing reminder of home.

"History is going to be a tough subject, so we will wait till your older to start teaching that- ah, Esri? Is something wrong?"

_*Nothing *I want to go home_

It was back, and this time Esri took a moment. Yesterday, asking to go home hadn't gone so well. But it didn't go bad, so…

_*I want to go home_

Esri said something unintelligible, Kris sighed, and she was back in control again.

_What…?_

* * *

Three days had passed. This time, they were talking about fun facts. Fun facts about the sun was on the tip of her tongue, but she refrained from saying. Talking about the sun so deep underground seemed wrong, and Esri was slowly growing suspicious that it wasn't a matter of Kris not wanting her to leave rather than her not being able to leave. But it wasn't the time to think about it, they were both happy-

_*Nothing *I want to go home_

Esri tried to shift in discomfort, but the voice had taken full effect. Kris hadn't even asked her a question, he was just talking about how deep some caverns Underground were.

_Go away_

_*Nothing *I want to go home_

…

_*I want to go home_

She didn't hear herself say it, but whatever she had said cut off Kris. He looked at her weirdly, and then nodded. It seemed that Kris was intent on ignoring it, because he didn't acknowledge it after that.

* * *

The fourth day came, and-

_*Nothing *I want to go home_

_*I want to go home_

Kris looked up from his book and muttered an apology.

* * *

Fifth-

_*Noth-_

She didn't even the voice finish, immediately choosing the second option.

...

Kris didn't acknowledge her.

* * *

A week had passed since Esri had fallen underground. And, in summary, Esri was sick of it. She was going to bring it up again, and not back down until he answered. She didn't care if she got in trouble, or Kris hated her, or any of those bad things. She just wanted to go home.

_*Thinking about asking questions fills you with determination_

And just to compliment her resolve, there it was. The tiny voice, a blip in time itself, narrating her emotions perfectly. It had been there for the last week, appearing whenever she did anything even remotely interesting. The voice was routine now, so she quickly accepted what it said and ignored it.

"Kris?"

Kris glanced up at her, swallowing his food and placing his fork down. He was in his "pajamas" (a tank top and plaid pants), as she was, and they were eating dinner. The concept was foreign to Esri, eating dinner in pajamas, but Kris did it so she followed suit.

"Hm?"

"Why can't I go home?"

The look on Kris's face was there again, but then disappeared as he ignored her.

"I want to go home."

"Have you ever heard of an echo flower?"

"I want to go home!"

"They are entirely magical."

"Can you please just answer me?" Esri finally yelled out, and both Kris looked at with wide eyes. Her voice had become high pitched and whiny, and she mentally cringed at how stupid she sounded.

_Whatever. I need to do this!_

"Esri, I've already-," Kris started, breaking in to Esri's resolve.

"No, you haven't. All you've said is 'you can't go home' and you haven't bothered to explain why!"

"There are some things that I can't explain right now-" Kris answered, sounding honest. But it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Yes, you can! You just don't want to!"

Kris started to say something, but then stopped. He stood up, sighing. A silence came over both of them.

"I can't get mad at you."

Esri didn't answer. She didn't know what to say to that.

"You should be mad at me," Kris continued, talking to both himself and Esri.

"..."

"You're not the first monster to come down here. And you're not the first to react this way."

The information didn't shock Esri, it only made sense that other people had fallen down the huge, unregulated hole on the top of Mt. Ebott. But the way he said it made her feel like there was something much deeper to it all that she wasn't seeing.

Her determination dulled. Maybe she wasn't ready to hear it.

"Do you want to know what happened to the others who came down here?"

Esri felt terrible. The disappointed in Kris's voice was obvious, both directed at her and himself. But, nevertheless, she answered, "yes."

"They died."

* * *

_Part 2: Memories_

That night, Esri had a nightmare.

She was on top of Mt. Ebott, but not in the location she fell through earlier that week. It was a new location, one that also had a hole. But it wasn't steep or gaping by any means, looking as if she could just walk down it and enter whatever laid inside of it. But Esri didn't want to go down it. Looking at it filled her with dread, and part of her knew exactly where it led down to. She turned around, her eyes meeting the rising sun.

A scream rang out. Esri jerked in its direction, fear filling her, but nobody was there. She looked back at the sun, but it was gone. Confusion started to weigh in on her, and she heard the scream again.

Someone yelled the name "Frisk".

Esri recognized the name, but didn't know who it belonged to. The world blurred out, the sun reappeared as if it had never left, and the familiar name was screamed out again.

The monster looked down, feeling the chill of the air...

...and every inch of her was covered in red.

* * *

Esri woke up with a jolt. She must have made some sort of noise, because Kris came knocking at her door a moment later.

"Esri?"

She let out a sob. She had never experienced a dream like that.

Kris walked in and sat down on the bed, holding a flashlight pointed towards the ceiling.

"What happened?"

"I had a bad dream," Esri lamented.

"Hmm. Would you like to talk about it?"

"I was on top of Mt. Ebott."

"Did you fall down?"

"I don't remember."

She really didn't. Dreams never stood around for long, nightmares or not.

Kris pondered for a second, and then stood up, "I'll make some tea, it should calm you down."

Esri groaned internally. She hated tea, but obviously hadn't wanted to say anything. Without thinking, she snapped, "no!"

Kris looked back at her for a moment and then chuckled in an amused fashion. Esri stared at him blankly.

"Ah, sorry! How stupid am I to think tea will help you. You must hate it; no doubt. Do you want hot chocolate instead?"

Esri smiled nervously and nodded. She got up, following Kris. The chill of the air immediately made itself known, but this time she ignored it. In the kitchen, she sat up on the island table, waiting for Kris to join her or some sort of conversation to start.

"I haven't been myself lately," Esri finally announced as Kris was taking some sort of chocolate out.

"Hm?"

"My parents called me the happiest little girl on earth but this week I've been acting really weird."

It wasn't a lie, they did call her that. But they also called her bad stuff sometimes, so maybe she was acting in character.

"I wouldn't not worry about it, Esri. You can't be happy all the time. Especially not this past week."

"Ya."

Kris came up to the island, a cup of tea and a cup of hot chocolate in hand. He jokingly handed Esri the tea cup, smiling when she giggled at him. He sat down, handing her the right one.

"You are a very mature eight year old," Kris mused, and Esri shrugged. She had been told that before, and at times she worried she was too mature, but it wasn't her top concern.

"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"I miss my parents."

Kris nodded sadly. "Would you like to tell me about them?"

"Sometimes we all get really mad at each other and other times, we are super happy with each other. It's weird."

Kris nodded.

"My parents like me mature and happy, so sometimes I try to meet that expectation and other times, I don't because I just don't want to."

He nodded again, and Esri nodded back, having said all she felt like saying.

"What about your parents?"

Kris looked at her weirdly, and then shook his head, "that is a story for a different time. Are you ready to go to bed?

Esri nodded, taking one last drink out of the hot chocolate.

* * *

The next morning, peace reigned throughout the household. Esri didn't mention what had happened the night before once, but did find a new solace in Kris's company. She didn't really notice, but she was slowly letting go of the emptiness that was missing home. Maybe it meant she was getting over herself. Or maybe she was starting to think of Kris's home as her home too.

It felt as if she had thrown a huge weight off her shoulders, letting her enjoy things.

But, that night, it happened again.

* * *

She was back on Mt. Ebott. It was the same location from her previous dream. But something was different. It took a bit to pinpoint, in her dazed, dream state of mind, but then it became very clear. Every inch of the grass had red on it. The liquid was making the grass muddy and wet, soaking into her already red fur. She didn't know what it was, but that didn't stop her from screaming as she saw it.

In the distance, someone else screamed.

"Frisk!"

Kris ran into her room again, but once again, she didn't remember the dream. They sat on the kitchen counter, again, but this time they both drank a hot glass of milk.

"I hope this doesn't become a trend," Kris mummered, interrupting the comfortable silence, "how often did you have nightmares before coming here?"

"I only had one or two, and they weren't very scary," Esri answered honestly. Even though she couldn't remember the dreams, something told her they were very different from the typical little kids nightmares.

"I see. It's only been two days, no cause for concern."

Esri nodded, her eyes dropping. The last thing she heard before she fully fell asleep was Kris chuckling.

* * *

A pool of blood, the screams, a girl yelling another's name in a distance-

Esri woke up with a start, not remembering any of it. But it didn't stop her from crying as hard as she ever had before.

A moment later, Kris stepped in. He didn't say anything, coming up to her head and offering her a hug. Esri quickly took it. They stayed silent for a couple of moments, Esri too choked on tears to say anything.

"Kris?" She finally muttered, tears still cracking her voice.

"Yes?"

"I have an embarrassing question."

"Go ahead."

"Are you my dad?"

"...whatever you want, Esri."

"I- I just- I'm so tired of being alone."

Kris just hugged her tighter.

"Can I call you that?"

"Yes, yes you may," Kris answered back, his voice cracking around the edges. He was crying too.

* * *

The dreams continued, stopping once in a while for weeks at a time, but for the most part staying consistent. Esri started to remember more and more parts of the dreams, namely the amount of blood (she eventually learned what that meant) and the screaming. Unfortunately, images of Mt. Ebott and the rising sun started to slowly fade from her mind, and she started to wonder if she had ever even been on the surface at all.

But one night, about a year in to her stay, a time when Esri had long stopped excessively missing her parents and was getting used to a new one, she dreamt something different.

This time, she was in her old house, laying in some sort of closet. Everything was out of perspective and bored, and no matter how hard Esri tried she couldn't make out exactly what it looked like. A high pitched buzzing noise was clear in the background, further adding to the state of confusion the whole entire area was experiencing.

A scream rang out in the background, diluted and mixing in with the buzzing noise. Esri barely noticed, too comfortable in her dazed state. She was laying on a pile of blankets, or jackets, or anything really soft that's went into a closet. Part of her was screaming to stop being so comfortable, but she ignored it.

Another scream, a sob. The part inside of Esri that was terrified screamed. The part lying on the pile of soft something didn't care.

And then she woke up, remembering every single bit of it.

* * *

_Part 3: Memories Pt. 2_

Esri was slowly forgetting her old family. It was no huge secret to Kris, who had been secretly worried over her memory problems since day one.

She had fallen down, stood around happily as if nothing had happened, and then had had no clue how she got there. It was already a very, very different reaction than most monsters who came down. In humans, this would mean a severe concussion, but monsters didn't get concussions.

Telling Esri she had a concussion was a lie, and he knew it.

That night became dedicated to research on monster based books. But it had only taken an hour to discover most of his books were either outdated or had nothing that he actually needed. He mostly blamed his early obsession with souls (which was the topic of most of his books on monsters) and human authors who also had an obsession with souls.

So Kris hit the spell books. It was something he was hesitant to do, but it really was a simple spell. Say the spell, name the keyword, and find the right book. And, sure enough, it worked. Ten minutes later, he had found his golden book. It was titled _Monster's Suffer Too: Mental Health_ _and Monsters. _The book was written in 2119 (three years ago) and was written as a debunker to the idea that monsters don't have mental illness. Kris had never actually read the book, only keeping it to use in case a fallen child needed it.

The information he needed was on page 237, straight in the beginning of a chapter titled _Memory Loss_. It talked about how monsters experience memory loss, and why they did.

To summarize, it wasn't anything Kris wanted to hear. According to the author, monsters experienced something humans called "repressed memories", which described a situation where a human repressed traumatic memories. The author explained that, for humans, this was pseudoscience. But before humans had adopted the idea for their dramatic works, the behavior was common in monsters, and there was actual proof they experienced it. The information following this revelation was an explanation into why, and it wasn't anything Kris needed. He read it, but not really.

Needless to say, it was all bad news for Esri. But the book provided no clear answers as to what to do with this information, forcing him to accept that he could only hope for the best.

Things went smoothly for the next two months. Esri talked about her parents, her friends from school, and even did excessive rants on how cute the dogs were around her house. It made Kris happy to hear her happy, and Esri was clearly relieving some sort of grief off her shoulders.

She slowly started to turn into the happy, playful boss monster she had talked about many nights ago, back on her first nightmare. But the signs of the underlying problems were inexcusable, and the nightmares raged on every night to prove it.

But the day was still safe.

Until the third month into her stay came around, forever changing things.

It had started off simple: Esri would start a story about her time on the surface, but would forget the story end halfway through. Perfectly normal; she was, at times, a distracted child.

And soon, Esri ran out of stories to tell. So she started retelling them, which was fine by Kris. He liked hearing her talk, it reminded him of-

No, no. Back to topic.

But the story's changed every time she told them. At first it was forgivable details, such as the type of her little friends "loom bracelet" or the color of a dogs hair. But soon people involved in the story, settings, descriptions, and even events were changing.

Kris was tempted to chalk it up to her bending the details a bit and then forgetting she bended then. But none of her story's were too outlandish. They were just little tidbits of her life before she fell down, not exciting scenes with jokes and drama.

But none of this stuff meant anything, not really. It was just Kris exhibiting his paranoia. He really needed to stop worrying-

"And then, my moms friend called over name in a shrill pitched voice, like this-" Kris mentally prepared himself for the intimidation. But Esri wasn't doing the impression, instead staring into the air with a concentrated look.

"What is it?" Kris asked, looking in to the dirty sink. Esri and him where cleaning dishes.

"What was my moms name?" Esri asked back, and all of Kris's worries were brought on full force.

From that point on, things kept getting worse and worse. By the time Esri started calling him 'dad', she admitted that she couldn't even remember their faces.

Kris could only nod. He really was lost.


	3. Chapter 3: It seems that your journey

_Before you call me a liar for not posting out two chapters in the given time (/s), this is two chapters. It's not in the time I promised, so sorry about that. The thing is I couldn't find a good place to end this chapter so it kept growing and growing till I realized I hadn't edited any of it. _

_And thank you for anyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited. Means a lot. Anyhow, on with this trash two-chapter chapter. _

* * *

**Chapter 3: _I__t seems that your journey can finally begin_**

"Esri, are you listening?"

Esri jumped up a bit at the snappy reminder of where she was, giving Kris a sheepish smile. Kris sighed, looking at her with mock disappointed.

"Sorry, Dad," Esri answered, but she didn't sound like she meant it.

Kris sat down in front of her. They were on the kitchen island, as usual with these types of things.

"How am I supposed to leave you all by yourself if I don't-"

"Do all assigned chores, don't go beyond the chamber, don't start any sort of fire, and if a fire starts, the fire extinguisher is in the back room. Remember to duck underneath a stable object if an earthquake happens, don't go looking for you incase you don't come back... is that all?"

Kris paused, but then grudgingly nodded.

"See? Everything is fine! You can leave whenever you'd like. I'll be fine," Esri reassured, giving Kris a wide grin.

He shook his head, still unconvinced. "Why is it you want me gone?"

"Because I'm ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To be independent!"

Kris gave her a are-you-sure look and chuckled.

"Ah, okay. If that's the case-" uncertainty filled Kris's voice, and he looked at the clock for a bit too long, "I'll be leaving in thirty minutes."

"Yay!" Esri almost shouted, lowering her voice when Kris placed a hand over his heart, mock exaggerating his offense.

* * *

Kris had left about about two hours ago, leaving Esri alone to do whatever she wanted.

And it was so much fun!

She had played _Escape Fate _(the only video game Kris had) for two hours, only stopping when she got bored trying to beat the level 3 boss. And then she ate ice cream for lunch, despite the fact she was an hour early for that. After "lunch", it was back to video games, where she finally beat the boss and moved on to level 4.

Level 4 proved to be much harder than level 3, and she must have wasted thirty minutes just finishing the first save portion. But, once she did, she heard a knock on the door, effectively ruining the excitement she felt at reaching it. Esri assumed it was Kris, immediately shutting off the video game and rushing to the kitchen island where the chore list had been placed, hoping against hope she could finish it quickly.

**Chores:**

**\- Put away dishes in sink **

**\- Get out sheets, put in basket **

**\- Try not to play video games the entire time **

_*Reading the list fills you with dread_

_Thanks a lot, random voice in my head!_ Esri snapped back at the narration. She didn't know why, but it almost felt like something was laughing at her. _As if getting grounded by Dad is funny!_

Interrupting her mostly one sided conversation, another knock rang out from the door, sounding as if someone had taken a door stopper and destroyed it. It was an odd thing for Kris to do, seeing as at times he seemed to have virtually no strength.

*...

_What is it? _

*...

_Ugh_

"Open the hell up!" Shouted a female voice, banging on the door. Esri flinched back at the sudden shout, staring at the door in disbelief.

That wasn't her dad.

"Listen here, monster scum- I am a member of the royal guard and I hold all authority to bust down this door!" Yelled the lady at the lower end of the door, somehow even louder than before.

Esri flinched back at the harsh voice. This wasn't good.

_*You should probably open it _

Esri nodded, confused. This was the first time the voice had ever given her direct instructions. But she promptly ran over to the door, undoing the lock and opening it with a shove. And, sure enough, it wasn't Kris.

The not-Kris human outside was unlike anything she had seen so far. Esri had this image of how humans looked- brown hair and eyes, short hair on their head, skinny hands, olive skin- and this lady was practically the opposite of it all. She was pale, blond with long hair, and her eyes shined the brightest blue Esri had ever seen.

She was wearing a greyish dress over black pants, a belt sitting loosely on her hip. Underneath the grey dress there was a white shirt, completing the look. Esri was unable to make the connection between this outfit and the previously mentioned royal guard, but if she had she would have known this was the clothing knights wore under armor.

"Quit staring, monster," The lady snapped, roughly shoving the now frozen Esri side. Said monster almost fell over, quickly regaining her balance and flashing a glare at the human.

"Who are-" Esri started, but was quickly cut off.

"My name is Lia, and really, I should be the one asking who you are. Now sit down, I got some shit to talk about."

She almost shouted the request, anger and bitterness seeping into every word.

Esri quickly agreed, seizing up in shock and fear. Somehow, she managed to force herself to and on the table, sitting down on the leftmost chair. Lia followed, sitting across from her. But she said nothing, instead just glancing at Esri as if she was expecting something to happen.

The monster didn't say anything. It was happening so suddenly... what was she even supposed to do?

"Okay, guess I'll start. I have a question for you: how long have you been underground?" Her voice considerably softened, but only in volume. The rest of the bitterness and anger was still there.

Esri released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and answered, hesitantly, "About two years."

"Hmm, okay. And when did Kris become your 'dad'?"

"I- Uh- what do you mean?"

"When did you start to think of him as your dad?" Lia looked at her like she was stupid.

"I- don't know." That was the truth. Nowadays, it was like he was just always her dad.

Lia laughed, somehow sounding mean as she did it.

"Okay, one more question: how much has Kris told you about the underground?"

There was a look in Lia's eyes as she asked it, almost as if she was begging Esri to answer. Almost if this was amusing to her.

Esri had to think for a second. What did she know about this place? She knew that she couldn't leave, she knew humans lived down there, and-

"_They died."_

A deep feeling of dread went over Esri. She looked up at Lia.

_She's going to kill me. _

"Well?!" Lia yelled, snapping Esri out of it. The young monster shook her head slightly.

"Nothing, huh? You know nothing about the underground?" Lia spoke for her.

Esri opened her mouth, shut it, and then opened it again to say, "I know that monsters die when they fall down here."

Lia nodded. She had stopped smiling.

"Do you know why?" She prompted, her voice softer in the fakest way possible.

"N- no."

The strange human woman nodded. "Do you want to know why?"

_*Yes *Leave me alone _

_*Yes _

"Humans and monsters used to rule the surface together. One day, a war broke out. The humans lost. In order to save what was left of humanity, the monsters agreed to give the humans two months to lock themselves underground with a magical barrier. So we did!"

That... explained a lot. Esri mulled over it for a second, an awkward feeling coming over her. She didn't like it.

"But-" Lia continued, "the humans were determined to one day get out, and the monsters wanted to ensure that any monster who fell down would have a safe way out of the underground. So an exception was made: a monster with two human souls could pass through the barrier, and, in extension, ten monster souls, no more or less, with one human soul in them could break the barrier entirely."

Esri didn't understand at all what that meant.

Lia gave her a deadpan look. "Do you know what a soul is?"

"...ya?" it wasn't a lie.

"So how do we get someones soul?"

_You kill them, don't you?_

"Well, nice to see you get it."

_Wait what_

"So, anyhow!" Lia snapped, once again putting Esri out of her distracted state, "let's talk about-"

"Wait… does that mean your going to kill me?" the realization hit Esri the moment the stupid words came out of her mouth and she quickly jumped up a bit, "no, no, please don't-"

"Chill out! I'm not going to kill you."

Esri stopped, giving her a weird look. Panic still cursed through her veins, the emotion pulsing inside her.

"But others will want you to."

Esri nodded hesitantly, still looking at Lia as if she expected more.

"Well, that's all I really have to say," Lia told her, practically shoving herself off the chair. She stood up to leave, her back facing towards Esri.

"Wait!" Esri all of a sudden yelled out, her curiosity spiking almost immediately as she pulled herself of the shock of the whole ordeal.

"What?"

Esri took a moment to get herself in check. "I- what's it like out there?"

"I've never been to the surface, you tell me."

"I meant beyond this chamber."

Lia turned around. "Bunch of humans who want you dead."

"So I shouldn't leave." Esri did not know why she asked, but she did.

"Wow, you figured it out. I'm so proud!"

And with that, Lia turned around and started walking off.

"Once more question!" Esri all of a sudden asked, again, right as Lia was one foot out of the door.

"What?!" Lia snapped out, but not with the same force as earlier.

"Why did you come and why didn't you kill me?"

"I'm the unlucky human assigned to make sure Kris isn't illegally harboring monsters. But, honestly, he never admits to it so I'm more of a glorified spy."

"And?" Esri persisted.

"And why I didn't kill you?" She paused, shaking her head, "I fucking felt bad."

Esri didn't respond as Lia walked out for good, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Kris came home three hours after that.

Esri didn't tell him what had happened, instead trying her best to sound like she enjoyed the time alone. Luckily for her, Kris fell for it and the evening continued on like normal.

* * *

That night, Esri had her second different nightmare.

A different nightmare meaning a nightmare she could remember.

She was in the closet, part of her relaxed and the other screaming. There was a scream, a scream she recognized. But as part of her was yelling the name of who it belonged to, Esri sat on the comfortable pile of clothing, ignoring it all.

But then, her head turned around. She was staring at the closet door, or, more specifically, the crack beneath it.

There was dust covering it. This time, Esri, the calm one laying in the comfortable pile, let out a scream.

And then it ended.

* * *

The next morning, all Esri could think about was that dream. It made her feel something, something familiar, but whatever it was was not a good thing. Lia's words filled her brain along with that, and Esri wondered if there was a correlation.

Weird human shows up, she has a weird dream, and now she just couldn't shake it off.

Esri flicked her fork a bit. She remembered, idly, that she was eating breakfast.

"Esri, are you okay?"

"Ya, I'm fine Dad."

It was a lie. She really couldn't shake off the feeling. What was it? Esri hated not knowing. It was her own emotions, why was it so hard to interpret?

Back in the real world, Kris was giving her a I-don't-believe-you look.

Maybe she should just tell him. About the girl, the dream, all of it. About wanting to leave.

But she also wanted to stay. She didn't want to ruin what she and Kris had. She didn't want to die.

But then again, maybe that dream was a wake up call. Maybe she really did still miss the surface, the home she could barely remember.

What was her moms name again?

_*Mina _

_Oh, thanks_

_*Do you want to go home? _

_Wow, you ask questions without giving me two options now. What will you do next? _

_*..._

_Fine, be that way. _

"Esri?"

_*i want to go home *im fine, just tired _

_No _

_*i want to go home *im fine, just tired _

_Try again. I don't even remember "home"._

_*i want to leave *im fine, just tired _

_*i want to leave _

The blip in time, words Esri couldn't hear, and...

Silence. Kris was staring at her, blankly. He definitely did not expect that.

"Well?" Esri insisted at his silence. She had dug herself in a hole now.

"Do you remember-" Kris started, sending a pang of remorse through Esri.

"Ya, monsters die when they leave. I got it."

Kris shook his head. "Esri, you don't under-"

"Humans need me dead so they can be free. I understand."

Kris dropped his fork, a clink ringing out in the desolate silence. Disappointment, guilt, possibly even anger came over him, further solidifying and melting Esri's resolve simultaneously.

"How did you find out about that?" Kris asked abruptly. There was anger in his voice, but it wasn't directed at her in some weird way. Did he know someone had come?

"What? The war? The barrier?"

He nodded.

_I should probably tell him I read it in a book. _

"A royal guard member came."

The moment the words came out of her mouth, Kris jumped up and almost shouted, "did she hurt you? Oh angel, what? How did she get into here? Did you two fight? Was-"

Esri was forced to interrupt him. She did that a lot.

"No, she just wanted to talk!"

Kris just shook his head at her. He didn't believe her.

"Esri, what did she-"

"I already answered, she didn't do anything."

"Then what did she say?!"

The monster almost rolled her eyes at him. She had never seen Kris so concerned. It might have normally been endearing, but now it made her feel annoyed. Annoyed at Kris, in return, was not a new feeling for her. But it had never been this raw.

"She just told me what happened. Between the humans and monsters."

Kris sighed in the most familiar way possible. His face softened, but none of the emotion left.

"I was going to tell you."

"That's fine, I'm not angry you didn't tell me." Esri was very annoyed now.

"Then why do you want to leave?"

"Because-"

_I don't know. What do I say? Just-_

"-I think I can free you guys."

"No!" Kris snapped out, but then calmed down upon seeing Esri suddenly jump back, "no, you will not be sacrificing yourself for this. You shouldn't even be considering that."

Esri had no clue what she was even saying, but said it anyway: "No, I mean without me dying."

Kris shook his head, not even hesitating.

_Wow, he's already given up on me. Maybe I do want to do this. _

"Why not?"

"It doesn't work that way," Kris answered easily. Esri went from annoyed to bitter.

Esri stood up, "where's the exit?"

"No."

"Your not going to stop me, you know that, right? I'll look for it myself if I got to!"

Kris didn't say anything as he started towards the door, opening it with a shove. It didn't take a genius to see what he was doing, and upon realizing this, she started after him.

"What are you doing?" Esri yelled out, exiting the door to seem him walking through the garden. The garden was on the backside of the house, directly facing the back wall of the chamber. She had never seen any sort of door there, only vines...

_Oh. _

"Something I should have done this long ago," Kris answered, glancing at Esri as she caught up to him.

He walked up to a patch of vines, shoving them aside, revealing a hallway. At first it was dark, but halfway through liux stones were placed, illuminating the door at the end. The door was purple, and the Deltarune (a symbol she had learned the name not to long ago) was painted onto it in black.

Kris was already at it, forcing Esri out of her shock as she ran towards him. But then something red flashed into her view. She flinched back, her entire body in on the action, barely managing to stay on her feet. And then she looked out at what had stopped her in utter confusion.

It was a short wall of transparent sticks, glowing a harsh red and blocking the way. Esri glanced up, and saw Kris's hand glowing the same shade of red as the sticks. Except it was much more concentrated, giving it a deeper look.

_Kris can do… that? _

_*It's magic_

"I'm sorry," Kris apologized.

Esri didn't say anything.

He tried again, "Please go."

"No."

"There's nothing you can do to stop this," Kris warned.

Esri clenched her fist. She was probably just angry now, and the silence was doing nothing to help it. How did this all happen?

Nobody moved.

She looked at the sticks. They were still there. Before she even knew what she was doing, she reached down towards the magical stick, the absurdity of it all flashing through her head-

"Esri!" Kris screamed out, but it was too late.

Her hand, now glowing a bright red and purple, was holding unto the red stick in a death grip.

_*Stop_

_What's going on? _

_*..._

_I hate you _

"Okay, okay, just... stay calm."

It was Kris. Esri looked at him in the eye, nodding. But it felt like a lie, because she wasn't calm at all.

"And release your hand off my magic attack."

Esri didn't need to be told twice, not even looking down. She released her hand, watching as the magic in her hand started to glow a brighter color.

"Wait- no!"

The magic in her hand blew up, dissolving Kris's magic attack. It was sudden but over as soon as it started. Kris was looking at her in relief, as if he was expecting something else to happen.

She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. All of the tension left her body, and tears started poking at the edge of her eyes.

"Esri?"

"I'm okay," she managed to say through the continued threat of tears, barely noticing as her hand stopped glowing.

Kris walked towards her, and then bent down in front of her, embracing her as she broke into tears.

"Do you still want to leave?"

_*I want to break the barrier *I want to stay with you _

_*I want to break the barrier _

Kris didn't say anything for a few moments, but finally, "I understand that this isn't the best place for you to grow up in. But there are people who want you dead beyond this chamber."

"I know."

"You can't break the barrier, Esri. Not the way you want to, at least."

"Yes, I can."

_You really plan on pushing this, don't you?_

"Esri, you're just a kid. They will want to hurt you. I know that it's hard for you to understand because you're young and monsters aren't like that, -"

_Images of dust, hiding in a closet, the sound of screams flashed through her. _

"_Why? Why do you do this?" _

"Stop it," Esri muttered as she absorbed the sudden flashback, shaking her head at Kris's remark.

"Okay," he agreed, not really realizing what just transpired, "are you ready to go back?"

_*No *Yes_

_*No_

Kris looked at her in disbelief and answered, "You really want to leave me that badly?"

"No." That was true.

"Then why...?"

_*I don't know *I want to break the barrier _

_*I want to break the barrier _

Kris didn't look happy, shaking his head.

"I can do it," Esri whispered, not knowing if she meant it or not.

He turned away, making Esri feel terrible. Why had she done this?

"Then prove it."

She reeled back, "What?"

Two things happened at once. First, a yellow star appeared in front of Esri. Words appeared in her head, the voice making itself clear.

_*The first SAVE point_

Esri, acting on extinct, swiped her hands at it. Words appeared, this time in front of her, but she just willed it to accept and it did. Or someone else willed it to accept. It was hard to tell.

And then, secondly, the entire world went black.

* * *

...?

Esri was standing in the middle of a black void, a huge banner in front of her. It was also black, it's edges bordering white. Underneath it, there were four orange buttons, reading: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, MERCY. Words appeared on the banner, reading:

*_Dad_

Behind the banner, Kris was standing. He appeared in full color, the only difference from his normal look was that his body was glowing a light red and a red glowing heart was in the middle of his chest. The same color as the magic attack from earlier, to be exact. Esri racked her brain, wondering what it was.

_*Kri's soul, the very culmination of his being!_

_Thank you!_

"This is called a FIGHT," Kris started, "it is the way humans fight in the Underground. In a FIGHT, you and your opponent take turns attacking each other."

"Wow," Esri answered, making Kris smile.

"Now, because I initiated the fight, you get the first turn. Understand?"

It did not make sense, none of it made sense. How had this completely normal day turned so backwards? "Yes?"

"Good! Now, I am going to start this fight off by pressing the MERCY button. The MERCY button only works if the spare option inside it is yellow, in which it will then end the fight. The spare button will only turn yellow once you have successfully ACTed on your enemy."

Esri looked at the MERCY button. She could see what he was getting at. But it would probably take an actual example to really get it. Despite this, she answered, "Okay."

"Now, as a monster living underground, you may at first be tempted to press the ACT button. Please, Esri, don't do this. It will not work on humans."

Esri nodded, her confusion multiplying. Why would he say something like that? Also, why did she keep nodding at things she clearly didn't understand?

"Which means that in order to survive outside this chamber, you must be able to FIGHT."

*_You don't like where this is going_

"You have magic, Esri, just as any other monster. Which means during a FIGHT, you will be able to summon magic attacks. You can use and target these magic attacks to, well, attack your enemy."

"Okay," Esri breathed, her body tensing up.

"But it may be harder than you think. As practice, I want you to attack me. I will not try to dodge."

New words appeared on the banner, reading:

*_Kris is sparing you _

"So, all you have to do is press FIGHT, and-"

"You mean you want me to attack you?" Esri asked, staring at him wide eyed.

"You will have to be able to FIGHT if you want to leave."

"But-!"

"Prove to me you can do it."

Esri shook her head, looking at her options. Kris had said ACT lead to MERCY, which sounded… favorable.

"_As a monster living underground, you may be tempted to-"_

She ignored the reminder, pressing ACT. Options appeared on the banner, reading:

*_Check _*_Talk _

_That's it?_

_*Talk _

Words appeared on the screen, urging her to say something about peace. Esri complied, "Dad, I could never do that to you. What is hurting you going to prove?"

*_Dad looks at you sadly _

…

_*Dad is sparing you _

"Ugh!" Esri screamed out, but she fell on deaf ears. Kris was just standing there, refusing to back down. Which further fueled Esri's resolved as she reached for the ACT button.

The words on the banner appeared again. She chose talk, which once again ended in Kris saying nothing and sparing her. And then she did it again, ending in the same result.

"Why won't you just say something?" Esri screamed the third time, only to be met with a silent sigh.

She tried again. Same thing. She tried three more times, same thing.

And then…

It was her eight time. The thought of actually attacking Kris hadn't even passed through her mind. She pressed the ACT button, ignoring Kris's look as she did.

*_Check *Talk _

_*Talk _

*_You should say something peaceful _

"Dad… I don't want to fight." That was more begging than peaceful, but what did it even matter?

*_Dad has chosen an unknown option _

Esri frowned at him, noticing his hand lighting red again. Her ACT button also glowed red, cracks starting to appear on it's edges. All too late, she realized what he was doing.

"No!" She screamed for what felt like the millionth time.

But it was too late, the ACT button was gone.

*_Dad_

It was Esri's turn again. Her ACT button was shattered on the ground below her.

She tried to say something, but no words came out.

_Is that really how he wants to do this?_

Esri stared at the location where the button used to be.

New words appeared on the banner, but they were a light blue instead of white. She didn't know why, but it seemed as if it was the voice from her head, not just the mindless text from before.

*_Tell Kris you want to stay with him *FIGHT Kris _

…

…

_*FIGHT Kris _

The FIGHT button appeared on the banner in a light blue, looking more and more demeaning as she reached towards it.

She hit the fight button, not knowing what to expect, watching in mild interest but mostly mind blowing anxiety as the blue button disappeared to reveal the white text again.

*_Dad_

She pressed the option, wondering why she even had to confirm that.

*_..._

Kris's soul appeared on the board, although she didn't know it meant. She noticed that her hand was glowing the purple and red from earlier, making her cringe back. Esri took a moment to adjust herself to what she was seeing, reaching back at the voice in some weird form of comfort. Her mind was going which way and back, part of her wanting to put the magic down and the other wanting to attack with all she had.

_I mean… this is what he wanted. _

_*..._

_He wants me to prove myself_

_*..._

_Because forget what I think, I have to fight people! And Kris, the guy I call dad…_

_*..._

_Thinks I won't be able to do it to him. Because I guess i'm just weak Esri, unable to do anything because she's a monster, or because the humans are mean, or... _

_*The thought of finally ending this fills you with DETERMINATION _

With that defining statement, Esri took one look at the shape, standing there, perfectly still. She guessed it was supposed to represent Kris, even when the heart shape on his body was still there. A new found anger burned through her. The magic in her hand was increasing every so slightly, snowballing as it continued on.

And then she willed it towards Kris's soul, gasping as it released and turning away from watching Kris's soul get hit.

*...

_What is it? _

Just as she asked the voice that, the entire FIGHT went black. Her heart shaped thing appeared in front of her, and ahead of hers was Kris's. Underneath it, Kris was laying down, not moving.

*_..._

Esri tried to call out for him, but…

*_Nobody came_

* * *

The FIGHT had ended, leaving only Esri standing. Kris was five feet ahead of her, limp.

_I knocked him out. _

"Oh, no-" Esri almost cried, rushing over to him and kneeling down. He was face first into the stone ground of the hallway, his hair split all over and soaking up the blood coming from his face. Esri knew what blood was, even if she herself had none. She also knew that blood coming out of humans usually meant they were hurting.

Knowing all of this, she shoved Kris a tad bit, shouting, "Dad!"

*_But nobody came _

"Be quiet, you stupid voice! Who… what even are you? I hate you!" Esri yelled for no reason, a growing sense of panic coming over her. _No, no… somethings wrong!_

She shoved him again, but then almost rolled him over, which finally made her stop. Something gave her the feeling she wouldn't like what she saw if she did roll him over. Esri took to sitting there, waiting for something to happen (preferably Kris waking up) so she would at least have an idea of what to do.

"Sorry," she muttered, bending her knees and shoving her face down into them. _I should have never pressed that button… why did I ever want to leave?_

_*You still want to _

"Oh, you again. What now?"

*_You still want to leave _

Esri thought about that for a moment.

"Ya, I do. I'm so stupid."

*_..._

"Who are you? I mean i'm pretty sure you're a figment of my imagination, but you just feel so… personal."

_*My name is Frisk_

"Oh, wow. You are somebody." Under any other circumstances, Esri would be excited to learn this. But now it just meant nothing. Not when Kris was laying next to her, knocked out and bloody.

_*Do you think i'm fake?_

"Yes."

_*..._

"Well? Anything to say? Anything at all?"

_*Your EXP increased _

"Great. Not that I know what that means, but great."

Their conversation ended at that. Esri pondered over it a bit, wondering how long ago it had been when she was just excited for Kris to leave. She wished she was back at that. Maybe she could try leaving a different way. One where Kris wasn't bloodied and on the ground, leaving her guilty and helpless to do anything.

But, on the bright side of her current situation, at least she passed the test. She was, in fact, strong enough to hit Kris. Even if she hit him too hard. Speaking of that fight, she was starting to wonder if she had killed him. But that was impossible, he hadn't turned to dust. He really was just knocked out.

Speaking of dust-

"Asriel!" Came the shriek of a voice, interrupting her train of thoughts. It was coming from in front of her, making Esri aware just how far down her gaze had gone. Looking up, it was…

_Chara?_

_*Chara _

Esri vaguely remembered what had transpired when she had first fallen underground, but it was slowly coming back. Chara had greeted her, wearing that creepy golden flower crown that seemed to almost cover her nonexistent and very bloody eyes, and then had proceeded to call her Asriel. Asriel, ironically enough was actually her- well, she couldn't remember who Asriel has been to her, but it was someone she knew.

*_Your dad _

_Oh ya, thanks Frisk_

Chara was right ahead of Esri now. "Hello? What's the deal? What did you-"

"Hey, who are you and why are you here?" Esri shouted, standing up abruptly when she saw Chara so close to her.

"Hey, it's me, Chara, you idiot. I know you remember. The real question is what did you do?"

"What are you doing here?" Esri demanded again, ignoring the question.

Chara ignored the question, again, instead staring intently at Kris's body.

"What is it?" Esri repeated, looking at her in concern. Chara gave a weird grin, her yellow teeth fully exposed.

"Chara, you-" Esri started again, briefly wondering why Chara's teeth were yellow.

"You killed him."

Esri reeled back, but then shook her head at Chara slowly. That couldn't be true, he wasn't dust yet. People turned to dust when they died, Esri knew that for sure. There was no way Kris was dead.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you? Thought you'd know how humans worked at this point…"

The realization hit her suddenly, a deep dread coming over her. _Humans don't turn to dust._

"Oh no," Esri whispered, staring in realization at what she had done.

"Hey, it's okay! At least now you can leave."

Esri stared at Chara in dawning horror, the full impact of her words coming to her. Had she really just killed Kris? Had Kris really died over that? Because she was stupid- still was stupid- and wanted to leave?

_Please let this be a dream, please, I just want to wake up and have Dad back. Oh no. No nonononononon. Just let this go back, or let me wake up, anything!_

Esri started crying. Chara laughed.

"Man, Asriel. You really are a crybaby."

"Shut up!" Esri screamed at her, not understanding what Chara was talking about and how she could be so mean. Did she not care that Kris's dead body was right next to her? How dare she even instate that Esri wanted this just so she could leave the chamber.

_How dare she, how dare she, please just no did I actually?_

*_Maybe it's time we end this _

_What?_

_*Do you want to try this again? _

_YES_

And then, for the second time that day, everything went black.

* * *

This time around, there was two buttons. They were the same color as the ones from the FIGHT system, one reading RESET and the other CONTINUE. In the middle of them both was another banner, reading in white text:

*_Kris's Home LV 1 :34_

Esri frowned. What did that mean? Where was she?

"Hey." A voice came from her side.

Esri snapped her head towards the voice, taking a step back when she saw the source. The voice had come from a human kid, standing right off the edge of the RESET button. She was about Esri's height, had wavy pixie cut hair, and was wearing jeans with an oversized blue jacket with two pink stripes across it.

"Who are you?" Esri muttered, already knowing the answer.

"My names Frisk. Nice to meet you!" She offered Esri her hand. The monster took it hesitantly, giving her a scared look.

"What is this?"

"It's hard to explain."

Esri nodded, staring at it all in disbelief. "What now?"

"I'm going to reload."

"Wait, what?"

And then everything ended.

* * *

Esri woke up a second later. She was standing in the hallway, Kris looming ahead of her. To her side was a glowing star. The monster almost jumped back when she realized that she was back, a million thoughts coming to her at once. But before she could, she was in the black landscape of a FIGHT again.

Once again, Kris was ahead of her. Once again, the options were there. Kris started talking, giving Esri the exact same speech from before. Esri could barely hear him, instead staring at everything in shock. How was she hear? Was she really being given a second chance?

_What's going on?_

Kris stopped talking. "Esri?"

Esri didn't answer.

"What happened?" Kris breathed, realization dawning unto him.

_I don't know. _

And with that, the FIGHT ended.

* * *

Once again, Esri was standing in the hallway. Kris was right across from her, giving her an array of looks at once. A million thoughts rushed through her head at once, and her chest flipped over. She was thinking back to Kris's dead body, thinking back to the black void, the buttons, her fight, _how am I even standing here?_

"I'm- i'm sorry, Esri. It was foolish of me to try to make you do that."

*_Calm down, just go with it _

"I'm sorry," Esri finally answered, her voice shaking and her stomach jumping up again.

She walked up closer to him, not knowing what to expect. But she got a hug out of it, almost crying as she remembered how just moments ago she was shoving his dead body, begging for it to wake up.

"Do you still want to leave?"

_I am a terrible, no good, rotten person. _"Yes."

Kris pushed away, still kneeling down to her eye level as he pulled a rusty key from his poncho pocket. He held it in front of Esri, watching as she grabbed the key out of his hand.

"I'm sorry." Esri muttered, looking towards the door.

"It's okay, Esri. I was wrong to hide this all from you. And I am also sorry," Kris answered, "that I have kept you from going home."

Esri looked towards the door, both dreading and anticipating leaving. She wished she could tell him that she didn't even know what home was, but all that came out was, "Are you still my dad?"

"As long as you need me to be."

"Thank you," Esri whispered, tears still running down her face. She was so confused, so anxious, so confused, and she had killed Kris, and yet… everything was fine.

Kris nodded, giving her a small smile.

He stood up, the sad smile still on his face, mentioning towards the door in a questioning manner. Esri nodded, walking up and inserting the key. She took a deep breath, not believing she was actually doing it, and then twisted it. The lock turning made a push on the door, opening it slightly.

"Goodbye, Esri."

* * *

Esri didn't understand what was even going on once she stepped outside.

To both sides of her, there was thick pine trees, going so high Esri couldn't see the ceiling. Liux stones were everywhere, littered on the ground and stuck on the trees. But, weirdly enough, there was snow. It was covering the path and on the pine trees, the chill of it all getting on Esri. Luckily for her, she had thick white fur, keeping her warm.

With that thought, she sat down in the snow, giving it a long, hard look, trying to assess what had just happened.

"Man, you must think this is all real neat, huh?"

Esri looked up with a gasp at Chara's voice, seeing the girl standing a foot away from her. _How did she even get here?_

"Leave, please!"

"Do you know what just happened?"

Esri stood up. "No! Not at all!"

"You reloaded, you idiot. Well, Frisk reloaded. I'm surprised you don't remember, since i'm pretty sure Frisk told you about her ability."

Frisk. That was the name of the girl in her head. The one with the blue and pink jacket.

*_Yep, that's me!_

Esri let out a breath.

"And, just to make sure we're clear, I hope you realize that Dad most likely remembers what you did to him."

The monster sighed, nodding. She was slowly starting to piece the pieces together, figure it all out, but what she did know was that Kris had known something was wrong when she first reloaded. The thought of him remembering that, of her ever doing that in the first place, terrified her, but she shoved it aside. This wasn't the time, and she wasn't going to give Chara the satisfaction of seeing her break down.

"Well, gotta run! See you later, monster."

*_Now that that's over, it seems that your journey can finally begin_


End file.
